Population ecology 1156819 225356168 2008-07-13T07:10:22Z Geronimo20 332930 remove tp '''Population ecology''' is a major sub-field of [[ecology]] that deals with the dynamics of [[species]] [[population]]s and how these populations interact with the [[natural environment|environment]].<ref name="Odum1959">{{cite book | last =Odum | first =Eugene P. | authorlink =Eugene Odum | title =Fundamentals of Ecology | edition=Second edition| publisher =W. B. Saunders Co. | date =1959 | location =Philadelphia and London | pages =546 p | isbn = 0721669417/9780721669410|oclc = 554879}}</ref> The older term, autecology (from Greek: αὐτο, ''auto'', "self"; οίκος, oikos, "household"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") refers to the roughly same field of study, coming from the division of ecology into autecology&mdash;the study of individual species in relation to the environment—and [[Community ecology|synecology]]—the study of groups of organisms in relation to the environment—or community ecology. Odum (1959, p. 8) considered that synecology should be divided into population ecology, community ecology, and ecosystem ecology, defining autecology as essentially "species ecology."<ref name="Odum1959"/> However, biologists have for some time recognized that the more significant level of organization of a species is a population, because at this level the species gene pool is most coherent. In fact, Odum regarded "autecology" as no longer a "present tendency" in ecology (i.e., an archaic term), although included "species ecology"&mdash;studies emphasizing [[life history]] and behavior as adaptations to the environment of individual organisms or species&mdash;as one of four sub-divisions of ecology. The development of the field of population ecology owes much to the science of [[demography]] and the use of [[actuary|actuarial]] [[life table]]s. Population ecology has also played an important role in the development of the field of [[conservation biology]] especially in the development of [[population viability analysis]] (PVA) which makes it possible to predict the long-term probability of a species persisting in a given habitat patch (''e.g.'', a national park). While essentially a subfield of [[biology]], population ecology provides many interesting problems for [[mathematics|mathematicians]] and [[statistics|statisticians]], which work mainly in the study of [[population dynamics]]. == Scientific literature == Scientific literature on population ecology can be found in ''[[The Journal of Animal Ecology]]'', ''[[Oikos]]'' and others. ==See also== *[[Density-dependent inhibition]] *[[Genetic variation]] *[[Irruptive growth]] *[[Life table]] *[[Malthusian growth model]] *[[Metapopulation]] *[[Population density]] *[[Population distribution]] *[[Population dynamics]] and [[population growth]] *[[Population genetics]] *[[Population size]] *[[List of publications in biology#Population biology| Important publications in autecology]] *[[Reproduction]] ==Bibliography== * {{cite book | last = Kareiva | first = Peter | authorlink = Peter Kereiva | editor = Roughgarden J., R.M. May and S. A. Levin | title = Perspectives in ecological theory | edition = | date = | year = 1989 | month = | publisher = Princeton University Press| location = New Jersey| language = English | pages = 394 p | chapter = Renewing the Dialogue between Theory and Experiments in Population Ecology}} * {{cite book | last =Odum | first =Eugene P. | authorlink =Eugene Odum | title =Fundamentals of Ecology | edition=Second edition| publisher =W. B. Saunders Co. | date =1959 | location =Philadelphia and London | pages =546 p | isbn = 0721669417/9780721669410|oclc = 554879}} *{{cite journal | last =Smith | first =Frederick E. | authorlink =Frederick E. Smith (ecologist)| title =Experimental methods in population dynamics: a critique | journal =Ecology | volume =33 | issue = | pages =441–450 | date =1952 | url = | doi = 10.2307/1931519| id = | accessdate = }} ==References== {{reflist}} {{Population}} [[Category:Population ecology|*]] [[Category:Demography]] [[Category:Fields of application of statistics]] [[ar:علم البيئة التجمعي]] [[de:Populationsökologie]] [[es:Ecología de poblaciones]] [[eo:Aŭtoekologio]] [[it:Ecologia della popolazione]] [[he:אקולוגיה - מונחים]] [[ja:個体群生態学]] [[no:Populasjonsøkologi]] [[pl:Autekologia]] [[ru:Аутэкология]]